One Colour to Keep

My wardrobe is primarily greys, blacks and blues, but the kids live in a riot of colour. I think they would hate to live in a world without the red end of the rainbow.

Cover Art

I’ve tried my hand at cover art already, although if sales are anything to go by it isn’t my strong suit. The flowers are from the Munstead Wood rose in the garden (affectionately known as Mundungus).

The Hajj cover went through several iterations, eventually the beveling on the text helped it stand out while giving me a colour I could use for both the title and author.

There was a meme that did the rounds on the book of faces in 2009 which was a bit of fun. If you are stuck for ideas try this:

1 – Go to “Wikipedia” and hit Random Article or click

The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 – Go to “Random quotations” or click

The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3 – Go to “flickr” and explore the last seven days or click

The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 – Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together.

Remember to watermark the picture to credit the original artist!

END

Art and Light

I love Bloomsbury. In between the tree lined streets and the garden squares you come across the oddest of shops. In that magical way of the best odd shops you feel like you have never seen them before, and that they have been there forever.

This time is was L Cornellison and Son an art supplier for the very serious painter. It had an air of Ollivanders, and the costume shop from Mr Ben, where turning a corner could take you into another world.

It also struck me as an interesting place to study light – that essential medium for both the artist and the photographer.

The staff were a little bemused that I wanted to take pictures, but kindly let me do so as long as I didn’t snap them or any of the customers, which was fine, my interest was in objects not people.

A case in point was this case, which I half expected to fly open with a selection of wands ready to choose me.

I kept the light deliberately low on these brushes, there was something about the auburn bristles that was very compelling.

I liked the play of light against the different colours in the bottles, the only slight change to the setting of the shelf was to twist the Copaiba Balsam to hide the price, because that cheapened the whole composition (although it was ruinously expensive).

A drawer full of pastels to round things off.

End

Wayward Women

The Queen of the Night
Possibly Ishtar the Goddess of Sexual Love and War, or her sister and rival Ereshkigal, ruler of the underworld.
From the reign of Hammurabi – Babylon c1792-1750 BC

A canter today through the British Museum (including the Mesopotamia room) culminated in a brief look at the Witches and Wicked Bodies exhibition. Halloween writing deadlines are pressing and I needed inspiration.

The focus of the exhibition is the representation of women as the source of evil, deviance and misdirection of the virtuous. There was a preachy part of this post linking this representation of women to modern day trolling, but as my blog followers are smarter than me, you’ll have made the link yourselves.

Click the pictures for higher res versions.

The Temptation of St Anthony – Jost de Negker – Woodcut 1500-20

Battle of the Sea Gods Andrea Mantegna – Engraving 1470-1500

The one below is innocent at first glance, but note the devil peaking out of the fire. OGH on the globe apparently stands for O Gott hute – O God Save Us.

The Four Witches – Albrecht Durer – Engraving 1497

Witches Sabbath – Hans Baldung – Woodcut 1510

Circe is one of my favourite mythical characters, partly out of love of the Odyssey.

Circe – Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione – Etching 1650

Poor St Anthony makes several appearances. The general theme is that asceticism in the deserts of Egypt will make you go mad and have visions of demons and succubi.

The Tribulations of St Anthony – Martin Schongauer – Engraving 1469-73

Preparation for the witches sabbath – Andries Jacobsz – Engraving 1610

The Sorceress – Jan van de Velde II – Etching and Engraving 1626

When the prophet Samuel told Saul of his impending death, Saul was tempted by the witch of Endor. She promised him an army of small furry creatures of limited technological ability that would nonetheless overwhelm a vastly superior army. Saul refused because he did not want to ruin his franchise.

Saul and the witch of Endor – Andrew Lawrence – Etching 1740s

Enchantress raising the dead – Johann Veit Kauperz – Engraving 1769

Witchcraft Scene – Luis Paret y Alcazar – Brown/grey wash 1766-69

The witch and the mandrake – Henry Fuseli – Etching 1812

Gretchen in Church – Theodor Matthias von Holst – Pen and Ink 1828-30

One more of St Anthony to round off the pictures:

The temptation of St Anthony – William Strang – Etching 1883

END

Find more wayward women in my writing here.

Diamond ring refracted and reflected

$refraction$

A bit of photoshopping to bring out the play of light in the actual and the reflected.

I see you in a dream

This one featured in The Door I Never Opened. It remains one of my favourite pictures from my college days. Surely if the Latin quarter of Cowley car plant could be the city of dreaming spires, our little town on the edge of the fens was the city of perspiring dreams.